If you thought Rebecca De Mornay was a nasty nanny in 1992's The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, just imagine having a real demon baby-sit your kid! Actually, it's not so bad when it's only sweetheart spook Andy Hallett - who plays the Host on Angel (airing tonight at 9 pm/ET on the WB). Since losing his mystical karaoke club, Caritas, the Host's been busy playing nursemaid to Angel and Darla's vampire baby, Connor.

"It's funny, because you wouldn't envision a demon hosting a karaoke bar and wearing all these flamboyant suits," Hallett tells TV Guide Online. "Now that I'm baby-sitting this baby all the time, that's another thing I'm shocked about. But the only thing that makes the Host a demon is green skin, horns and a magical ability to read people's auras. Otherwise, he's so human! So I guess baby-sitting comes natural."

Word is, Angel's rapidly-aging offspring may no longer need a nanny in a few months... "Well, the Host won't miss baby-sitting," his 26-year-old portrayer predicts. "He's always p---ed off when the gang's out fighting crime and he has to sit home, bored to tears."

Although Hallett adores Jake, Connor and Trent Tupen - the triplets who play Connor - he admits it's tough working with fussy infant actors. Anyway, it sounds like he suffers enough in the makeup chair, where it takes "a grueling three hours" to go from human to demon. "The worst is my thick, red contact lenses, which I despise!" he moans. "I beg for the lens technician to pop them out in between scenes."

Meanwhile, curious Angel aficionados are begging us to answer a burning question: Is the Host gay? "It's supposed to be ambiguous," Hallett grins. "The Host has a lot of love for everybody. They don't go out and tell you, but the Host does call Angel 'Sweetie' and 'Cupcake' and all sorts of wild little pet names..."

--- Daniel R. Coleridge